A Man Walks Into A Bar
by sdbubbles
Summary: Based off the scene in "Going It Alone" where Sahira tells Hanssen that she's giving up on her patient. She doesn't always trust herself and he shows her that she needs to. Sahira/Hanssen friendship.


**A/N: I'm actually taking a liking to Hanssen and the way he does things. Is it just me, or does he seem to manipulate his staff into doing the right thing? Sahira, Sacha, Malick...anyway, here's another one, based off that scene in "Going It Alone" tonight, where Hanssen turns up and Sahira says she giving up on her patient.**

**Sarah x**

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><p>"According to whom?" Hanssen challenged Sahira on her decision to give up. "You? Or Miss Naylor?" he asked, waiting for her to understand what he was doing. This was what he had always done to her: challenged any decisions he thought unwise by asking her why she had made them. And, in this case, he was sure that Jac had pushed the decision she wanted Sahira to make. She still looked a little confused, so Hanssen said to the rest of the team, "Give me a moment alone with Miss Shah, please."<p>

When everyone had left, he studied her face carefully. He had seen this many times before in her. She was afraid of killing the patient and screwing up the projects. "Do not permit Miss Naylor to make your choices for you," he ordered her firmly. "You must trust your own judgement. The second you doubt your own ability, you _will_ make errors."

"I don't doubt my ability," she replied. She looked up at him with narrowed eyes, waiting for him to elaborate on his point. She had worked with him long enough to recognise when he had a point to make.

"But I know you do not always trust your judgement," he answered, smiling slightly.

"And how would you know that?" she snapped, leaving him smirking. He knew she would go on the defensive at what he had said, and that was exactly why he had said it in the first place. She needed motivation if she was to have a good result with this case.

"Too many years working with people who honestly believe they can fool me," he told her bluntly. "You, of all people, cannot fool me." He looked at her face carefully and thought he saw a glint of determination in her dark brown eyes. "A word of advice," he said, with his hand on the door, ready to leave. "A man walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a glass of water. The bartender fires a gun at the man, narrowly missing him. The man thanks the bartender and leaves. Why?"

Sahira stared after him as he left, wondering what he had just tried to tell her. She ordered her team back in and started operating. She was not going to let Jac tell her what she has to do. This was her project, he decisions. Hanssen was right. She needed to believe in herself more and not always take the safe yet dangerously time-consuming route.

Later, just as she was about to leave for the day, she headed to Hanssen's office. She knocked and entered when told to do so. "He had the hiccups," she said with a satisfied smile. "The man had the hiccups and wanted a glass of water, but the bartender scared them out of him."

"And do you understand the point of me puzzling you with such a riddle?" he asked, his dark eyes meeting hers. She still did not understand what he was trying to tell her. Maybe it was something she already understood but did not see as connected to the riddle he had given her. "Evidently not," he sighed. He stood up and walked over to her, unintentionally towering over as he did with most of his colleagues. "Sometimes, you will need to take the most direct action in order to save your patients. It is Trauma Unit you are running, and patients may simply not have enough time left for you to check every detail before opening them up."

"And you couldn't have just said that?" Sahira asked, exasperated at his long-winded way of doing. "Why do you do that? Why must everything be coded?" she demanded, throwing her hands up a little.

"Because, Sahira, that is how you learn best. I have known you long enough to know that you need to think about something before comprehending exactly what it is that you are meant to be learning," he explained, smirking at her. He knew that he was right about her way of thinking; he almost always was. She continued to glare at him. "Being happily married with two young children, I would have thought that you would understand that there has to be a balance between careful consideration and split-second decisions?"

"Not as happily as I like people to think," she shouted at him bitterly. There. It had slipped out and there was nothing she could do about it. She waited for his reaction. Though he pretended otherwise, she knew that he did care for her happiness.

"And that is why you have been so tense and uncertain of your own decision making," he replied. It was something he had seen weeks and weeks ago, so it was not news to him. He was aware that the one thing Sahira Shah would worry about more than anything else was her happy family falling apart. "Aren't we glad that we understand each other?"

"You already knew?" she said incredulously.

"Like I said before, Sahira, you cannot delude me into thinking everything is fine when it is not. You have tried before and failed most miserably," he reminded her. He watched as she accepted that she could not deceive him at all. "The one thing you must remember is that, no matter what the problem, there will always be someone who is willing to help you."

He gave her a sympathetic look and squeezed her fingers briefly, hoping that she understood the meaning in his words. He went back to his desk and reminded her before she left, "Remember, the next time you get a patient like the one you had today, try omitting the water and going directly to the shotgun. Might save some trouble."

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><p><strong>Hope it was alright!<strong>

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**Sarah x**


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